Ridley Scott Is Planning 6 More Alien Movies

Back in 2012, heralded filmmaker Ridley Scott finally made his long-awaited return to the Alien franchise with Prometheus, which received mixed reviews but still paved the way for this summer's Alien: Covenant. It has already been confirmed that Alien: Covenant will start a new trilogy of sci-fi films, that will eventually connect to Ridley Scott's original classic Alien. But now it seems the director is thinking even bigger. Ridley Scott revealed during a new interview that he is actually planning six more movies after Alien: Covenant. Here's what he had to say below.

"If you really want a franchise, I can keep cranking it for another six. I'm not going to close it down again. No way."

The filmmaker revealed this during an on-set interview with the Syndey Morning Herald while production was still under way. After directing the 1979 classic Alien, he handed the reins over to James Cameron for the iconic 1986 sequel Aliens, with David Fincher making his feature directorial debut with the much-maligned 1992 sequel Alien 3. From there, the franchise took another turn with 1997's Alien Resurrection, 2004's Alien vs. Predator and 2007's Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, before Prometheus debuted in 2012. After revealing he has no plans to let go of the franchise again, Ridley Scott also teased that he'll be ready to shoot the follow-up to Alien: Covenant next year.

"You've got to assume to a certain extent success and from that you'd better be ready. You don't want a two-year gap. So I'll be ready to go again next year."

Set 10 years after Prometheus, Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in Alien with Alien: Covenant, which follows the crew of the colony ship Covenant. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, they discover what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world, whose sole inhabitant is the "synthetic" David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. Alien: Covenant will be the first installment of a new trilogy, which was spawned by the story of Prometheus. Here's what the director had to say about how he discovered through Prometheus that people still had an "appetite" for this franchise.

"What we did really well on Prometheus, considering that it was a ground zero idea that was starting all over again, was I discovered that people do have an appetite for the alien and what he means and his evolution, the egg, the facehugger, the chestburster as we call them. People still want to see it. So I return to a little bit of that but not wholeheartedly; there's a lot in here which is new as well. (The first Alien) was fundamentally a film that was seven people locked in a tin can and who will survive and who won't," Scott says. "In a funny kind of way it was very much a genre movie if you like, a B movie done in an A way with a marvelous cast and a fantastic creature. We raised the bar there. Now we've gone further than that. We go from Prometheus into both worlds of the original Alien and a little bit of Prometheus."

The Alien: Covenant cast also includes Alien: Covenant also stars Katherine Waterston, who has been rumored to play Ripley's mother, although that has never been confirmed. The character certainly draws comparisons to Sigourney Weaver's iconic space heroine. Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez round out the supporting cast, along with James Franco, who is playing a character named Branson, the captain of the Covenant ship, who is also married to Katherine Waterston's Daniels. Ridley Scott is directing from a script by Jack Paglen, Michael Green and John Logan. With the May 19 release date getting closer and closer, hopefully we'll get more footage and learn much more about Alien: Covenant in the weeks and months ahead.